Welcome to 2010, a year about nothing...

My counterpart over at IT Business Edge, Loraine Lawson, did a great job of wrapping up some popular predictions for the year ahead in terms of all things SOA-ish and IT-related, topped off by Miko Matsumura's proclamation that "Nothing (much) will happen."

The year ahead -- SOA without SOA?

Good deal. Maybe a low-key year is just what we need after the roller-coaster ride of 2008-2009. And, the endless soul-searching and debate around whether to service orient or not will simply get down to the roll-up-your-sleeves-and-make-the-stuff-work stage.

Loraine also calls out James Governor's prediction about SOA, in which he proclaims the year ahead will witness "SOA without the SOA." That is, we'll be seeing plenty of service orientation without the acronyms.

Loraine quotes Ecclesiastes and the Byrds, observing that perhaps it's time to turn, turn, turn: "'for everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.' Rather than being a time for new investments and demanding more money for uncertain ventures, maybe 2010 will be a time for completing what we've started, and perhaps even reaping what we've sown. Maybe, just maybe, IT will actually deliver on those long-ago promised ROIs."

Great thoughts. My own prediction is that this will be an expansion year for businesses, and service oriented approaches will play a large part in those expansion plans. We may not get the hype and razzle dazzle, but we'll certainly see how SOA can stand up and deliver where it counts.